Early Victory
by ZACHDABOSSSS
Summary: What would happen if Harry had been raised by Order of the Phoenix members? Short, doesn't show Harry being raised.
1. Chapter 1

p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Quirrell unwrapped his turban, and Harry saw the face behind. The face was sneering. "Why don't you give me that Stone in your pocket, Potter?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Harry recovered quickly from the surprise and decided to change the subject. "Hello, Tom."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Harry looked at the Mirror of Erised, just where Dumbledore said it would be, and then at Voldemort, on the back of Quirrell's head. Voldemort's eyes widened. "How-"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Harry smiled. "I've known Dumbledore for my entire life, and we've had some talks. You know, casual small talk, prophecies and the like."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Voldemort smirked. "So you know?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Harry nodded. "You know what else I know about?" He held out five fingers. "The locket. The cup. The diary. The diadem. And the ring." (A.N Voldemort made Nagini a Horcrux in the Goblet of Fire, not before the first book, in case you forgot). He put down a finger as he said each. "We interrogated and persuaded Slughorn. And guess what Dumbledore, Sirius, Remus and I have done?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Voldemort's jaw had dropped. He managed to get out one word. "Wh-what?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Harry grinned. "We asked Myrtle how she died. We killed the Basilisk. And got some fangs."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Voldemort pieced it all together. "So-"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You're mortal."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Voldemort seemed confused. "I was informed Dumbledore sent you to those mudblood muggle relatives?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Harry smiled and twirled his wand in his hand. "That's what he told everyone. Sirius was given a trial by the demanding of Dumbledore and McGonagall, and Dumbledore sent me to Grimmauld Place, home of the Blacks, and I grew up with only Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, and Kreacher for company."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Voldemort grinned. "But too bad, that life ends here. For what are the powers of an eleven year old against the greatest wizard of all time, one so powerful people still fear even my name, when they believe me to have been dead for over a decade?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Harry put his wand in his pocket. "Give it your best shot then."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Voldemort smiled. "Quirrell."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The Professor turned around and raised his wand./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Harry had been told about the prophecy, and any person's Avada Kedavra should work, just like anyone could stab a Horcrux with a Basilisk fang. Nobody Harry had met just had the strength to perform it. As Dumbledore put it, they 'loved too much'. The Avada Kedavra was something that could destroy Horcruxes, one just had to have enough hate in their being to be able to perform it, and even more so for it to actually work./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Quirrell smiled evilly. "Any last words, Potter?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Harry glared. "See you in hell, Professor."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And then he shut his eyes. He pictured all the fun times he had had with Sirius, and reading with Remus, and Kreacher being nice, for they had given him the fake locket…/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He pictured a scene from many years ago, where Sirius was in his dog form, and Remus was laughing on the couch. Dumbledore was standing in the doorway smiling, and Harry was playing with the dog. Sirius jumped at Harry. But just before Sirius touched him, Harry heard Quirrell shout, and everything went black./spanspan id="docs-internal-guid-9c9fadcb-7fff-b6b8-0583-1ad4e5939a6d"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"-/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strongspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"New story! Don't worry, it's already finished, no procrastination this time./span/strong/p 


	2. Chapter 2

Harry blinked. He saw pure blue, and it occurred to him that he was lying on the ground, looking at the sky. He sat up.

It looked like the playground that Harry went to every year on his birthday. All the rest of the time he was locked up in Grimmauld Place (so the Ministry couldn't track him), so it was a special occasion. At least Sirius and Remus celebrated holidays.

As a child, Harry had been kept a major secret. Dumbledore had leaked to the Prophet that Harry went to live with muggles, and this was what he told everyone, including Ron and Hermione. Harry never sent owls to Sirius, but Sirius knew the Gryffindor fire was connected to the Floo, so Sirius went through the Floo after everyone had gone to bed every Monday, so Monday was talk night. They simply sat there and talked about nothing, occasionally practicing spells.

Harry had been kept inside Grimmauld Place almost all the time, except for his birthday, which he got a choice to do whatever he wanted. Most of the time he practiced spells. He had gotten his wand very early, at the age of five. The wards at Grimmauld Place had prevented the Ministry from seeing Harry's magic, and even if they had they would think it was Sirius or Remus.

He got up and noticed two people on a park bench, people he only knew from photographs.

"Mum? Dad?"

His parents nodded and James Potter patted the space in between them. Harry sat down.

James spoke first. "This looks like the park by Grimmauld Place, Sirius and I went there once."

Harry nodded. "So what now?" He had no need to specify.

Lily spoke. "The Horcrux part of you is dead. It's over there, on the merry-go-round."

Harry looked over, and indeed saw a tiny form curled up in a fetal position. It was naked, and whimpered softly.

James nodded. "Son, we are so proud of you."

Lily nodded as well. "So proud."

Harry looked at each of them. "Do I have to die, or do I have the choice to live?"

They both shrugged, and Lily answered him. "You have the choice."

Harry nodded. "I would like to live, is that alright? I've given it some thought."

Lily nodded, and James smiled. "We support your decision no matter what."

Harry nodded. "I would like to go back."

Lily smiled broadly. "We love you."

James grinned. "A lot. And tell Sirius and Remus I said hi, and to show the rat no mercy."

Harry laughed. He saw them growing fainter. "I love you too."

And he woke up.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry lie completely still. He felt something poking him, something leathery. He concluded it was a shoe. Harry didn't have to open his eyes to know who it was. All he did was take as small and long breaths as possible, to trick Quirrell into thinking he was dead.

It worked. Quirrell laughed, and said to apparently the face on the back of his head, "He is dead."

The cold laugh of Voldemort sprang through the room, but to Harry it sounded like nails on a chalkboard. "Take the Stone and levitate him."

Quirrell did so. Harry felt a sudden urge to open his eyes and take back the Stone, but he knew he couldn't. Then, Harry felt an invisible force pick him up. He then felt air gliding through his hair, so he concluded Quirrell was walking. He felt this for a while, all the while hearing Voldemort making snide comments on the defenses of each teacher. He said that the keys were too slow, that the chess pieces were stupid…

Harry also heard Quirrell stepping over the chess pieces, and the buzzing of the keys. Quirrell simply grabbed the last broom from the key room and used it to fly up past the Devil's Snare, which cowered when Quirrell summoned flame. It felt weird to be speeding through the air with seemingly nothing supporting you. Quirrell simply put a major sleeping charm on Fluffy.

When the professor stepped out of the room, Harry was met with the talking of many paintings at once. He heard snippets.

"Harry Potter-?"

"Quirrell-?"

"What's that on the back of Quirrell's head?"

Harry internally sighed. Boy were they in for a shock.

Quirrell strutted to the headmaster's office, most likely to show off his recent victory and possibly duel the Professor with the strength of two, one being quite possibly one of the most powerful wizards ever, but paused at the gargoyle.

"Password?" The gargoyle spoke in its usual monotone.

Quirrell smirked. "I have Harry Potter dead at my feet. I daresay Dumbledore would like to see me."

The gargoyle's eyes widened, and it immediately stepped aside. Harry's head bumped the wall when Quirrell stepped onto the escalator, but he fought to keep his face still, limp, and emotionless.

Quirrell reached the top, and knocked on the door. A seemingly very tired Dumbledore answered it. "Come in."

Quirrell stepped in and Harry knew that Dumbledore had smiled, as this was his normal greeting. "Ah, Quirinus, this is a pleasant-"

Dumbledore stopped short, seemingly seeing Harry.

Dumbledore looked back at Quirrell. "Where's your turban?" His tone was dark and menacing, and Harry knew that the twinkle in his eyes was most likely gone.

"I took it off to show dear Potter here my true self."

Harry heard a few footsteps, as though Quirrell had turned around. Dumbledore gasped.

Then the professor spoke in the gravest tone yet. "Tom."

"Professor." Voldemort's tone sounded mocking.

At this moment Harry was lowered to the ground, and he savoured the feeling of actually being supported by a solid object. He was in an uncomfortable position on the cold bricks of the Headmaster's Study, but he still relaxed. He opened his eyes a minuscule amount, knowing that no attention was probably on him.

Dumbledore was glaring at Quirrell, or the back of his head. In other words, he was glaring at Voldemort. "The Stone?"

Quirrell took the Stone and held it behind his back, in front of Dumbledore. He then re-pocketed it. Voldemort sneered. "Your defenses were weak, and your trust in your teachers pathetic."

Dumbledore walked back to his desk, and sat down. "I merely give people second chances. It has hurt me in the past, cost me a sister… but I don't talk about that. I have found that trusting people and not holding grudges gets someone far in life, as it has gotten me."

Voldemort laughed. "And yet it shall be your downfall."

Dumbledore shrugged. "But I have many people I can trust, and I can read minds, especially those who do not know Occlumency. This is actually coming in good use right now."

Voldemort seemed confused. "I mastered occlumency and legilimency in my sixth year, complimentary of Professor Merrythought."

Dumbledore smiled. "But there is one in this room who has not learned occlumency, no matter how hard his dear godfather and my own Potions Master tried to teach him. Harry, you may get up."

Harry groaned. Quirrell whipped his head towards him in surprise, and then turned around so Voldemort could see him. Dumbledore smiled at the face of Quirrell. "Ah, you had not figured it out?"

Harry slowly stood up as Quirrell slowly shook his head. Harry limped over to behind the desk, and stood there holding his chest, where the curse had hit. He nodded at Dumbledore, who turned his head back towards Quirrell/Voldemort. "There was a final Horcrux, one you never intended to make. That night in Godric's Hollow, when Lily's sacrifice saved Harry, and the curse rebounded, your soul fled your body and attached itself to the only living thing it could find. Harry himself. And so when you shot another Avada Kedavra curse at Harry just now, it vanquished the part of your soul inside of Harry. Only _now _are you mortal."

Quirrell/Voldemort was stunned. Both of their jaws were slack, and they were staring into space. Dumbledore smiled and turned back to Harry. "Time to do the prophesized. Would you like to use my wand?"

Harry shook his head. They had researched the twin cores, but Quirrell was using his own wand, not Tom Riddle's. The twin cores had no effect.

Harry walked from behind the desk, to the other side of the room as Voldemort. Dumbledore simply looked at Voldemort. "Harry and Quirinus shall now duel. If you win, your greatest enemy will be dead and your power will be limitless, and if we win you shall go to Azkaban for the rest of your life, unless the Ministry chooses to follow the MACUSA version of prosecuting traitors, as they refer to it, the 'Death Chair'."

Quirrell nodded slowly, and faced Harry. Harry was glaring at him. Quirrell glared straight back. But then Harry bowed. Quirrell followed his lead, and then they got into ready positions. Dumbledore winked at Harry. Harry nodded at him.

Quirrell waved his wand at the same time as Harry.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Expelliarmus!"

The bolts met in the middle, green against red. Harry had both hands on his wand, but he had no need to. For Harry had the greatest magic of all.

Even the wands knew it. The greatest magic was love.

Harry's wand felt it, and Quirrell's sensed it. And Quirrell's wand gave up.

The green bolt diminished, and the red dominated it. The green broke and rebounded. Straight into Quirrell. And Voldemort.

The Dark Lord had fallen.


	4. Chapter 4

Dumbledore stood up and smiled at Harry. It was dinner the next night, when Dumbledore told Harry he was planning on announcing the fall of Voldemort.

"Attention, please."

The hall became silent at once. Dumbledore smiled, the twinkle in his eye tenfold to what it normally was. The teachers were looking at Dumbledore curiously, so it was evident he had not told them. "I have very good news. Yesterday evening Professor Quirrell broke into the forbidden third floor corridor."

There was muttering at this, but they quieted down when Dumbledore put up his hand. "The reason that the floor was forbidden is that we were guarding the Philosopher's Stone, a Stone that can grant the elixir of life and make one immortal, and turn any metal into gold. It would have brought Voldemort back to his former glory."

Muttering. Dumbledore put up his hand once more. "The reason that I said you would die a most painful death is because there was a Cerberus guarding the Stone. Quirrell was able to get past it and our other defenses, but unbeknownst to him he was being followed by three of our fellow students. Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger." Harry ducked his head, Ron's ears went pink, and Hermione blushed as every head in the hall turned towards them. "Ronald Weasley sacrificed himself during a giant match of chess in which you had to win to move forward, and Hermione was forced to go back during a potion riddle set by Professor Snape. Harry moved forward. He confronted Quirrell. Quirrell killed Harry."

Harry heard shouting, as if students thought Dumbledore was daft, Harry was right there!

"Harry came back to life. He survived the Killing Curse yet again."

There were cheers, and Harry ducked his head again.

"Quirrell brought Harry back to me in my office, where I discovered a painful truth. Professor Quirrell was being possessed by Tom Riddle, known to most as You-Know-Who or Lord Voldemort."

There were screams, and nearly the entire hall flinched.

"Harry and Quirrell, possessed by Voldemort, dueled. Harry won."

Muttering.

"And this brings me to the very happy news. It is confirmed that Quirinus Quirrell and Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort, the darkest wizard ever, has been defeated by Harry Potter by a rebounding killing curse."

Silence.

And then pandemonium.

People were jumping on the benches, running to Harry.

Harry suddenly found himself surrounded by people, hugging him, trying to touch any part of him. He was deaf, surrounded by screaming…

Dumbledore's voice boomed above the others. "The Daily Prophet has been informed, so everyone expect an owl from your parents tomorrow about the news."

And then he sat down, spectating everybody congratulating Harry.

Harry heard the boom of sound once more that evening. As he walked into the Gryffindor Common Room, he heard the same volume in closer quarters. It was deafening.

He accepted some Butterbeer from Fred, and sat down on the couch. He was soon joined by Ron and Hermione.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Ron yelled over all the noise.

"Dumbledore told me not to." Harry yelled back.

Harry was congratulated every three seconds until he announced he was going to bed. Ron went up with him, and Hermione went up to the girls dormitories.

The next morning there was a barrage of letters, even a few howlers, one at the Gryffindor table, one at the Ravenclaw table, and two at the Hufflepuff. Each of the howlers expressed extreme joy. Ron received four letters, one from Mr and Mrs Weasley together, one from Bill, one from Charlie, and one from Ginny. It seemed the Prophet had mentioned Ron, as each letter directly implied that they had seen him in the paper. Ron smiled, and his ears turned red as he read the copy of the Prophet that his mother had sent. He showed it to Harry and Hermione.

June 6, 1992

_**The Daily Prophet**_

**YOU-KNOW-YOU ALIVE, VANQUISHED BY HARRY POTTER ONCE MORE!**

"Voldemort was indeed alive, but has been defeated by Harry Potter again." says Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. "He (Voldemort) was possessing our most recent Defense Against The Dark Arts professor, and was trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone, which has since been returned to Nicolas Flamel. He was pursued by Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger."  
He says that Harry Potter, who is a Gryffindor first year at Hogwarts, dueled and defeated You-Know-Who with a single spell.

"Harry cast Expelliarmus while Quirrell cast Avada Kedavra, and Quirrell's wand sensed the power of Love in Harry and gave up."

There is no proof that this is the real cause, and Harry is not just more magically capable than Quirinus Quirrell, but it is the only thing that we have been provided with.

The school had put up many defenses guarding the Stone, including–

**Continued on page 4B**

"Is that true?" Ron was looking at Harry. Harry nodded.

Harry had expected no letters, but he knew that the next Monday when Sirius came through would be very eventful.

He was right. As not only Sirius came out of the fire, but Remus as well, and they were both grinning wildly. As soon as Sirius saw Harry he laughed. "Ah, it's our saviour! Mr. I Beat Voldemort As A First Year! Hell, when I was a first year James had to talk me into doing my Defense homework so I wouldn't get kicked out of school!"  
Harry grinned. "Really?"

Remus nodded. "It was quite a spectacle, normally involving hexes and blackmail."

Harry laughed. "That is something I would pay good money to see."

Remus nodded. "I was lucky to not have to."

"Well, changing the subject from blackmail and curses," said Sirius, looking at Harry. "How'd you do it? Dumbledore told us to have you explain it."

Harry nodded. "Er, I went in the corridor, in the third floor, the forbidden one? Oh, shut up," he added as Sirius started laughing. "Er, I passed what Dumbledore called a Cerberus, and then went through some Devil's Snare, then caught a key, harder than it sounds. And then we had to win a game of chess, and Ron had to sacrifice himself, so we lost him there. Hermione and I moved forward to Snape's defense, a potion riddle. Hermione figured it out, but she had to go back. She got Ron and went to get Dumbledore, though Dumbledore never did come… I wonder why.

"Anyway, we passed and it was Quirrell that was trying to steal the Stone, not Snape."

At this moment Sirius sighed and handed over a galleon to Remus, who had a smug smile on his face. When Harry looked at him quizzically, he explained. "I thought it would be Snape, Remus thought it wouldn't."

Harry nodded and continued. "I let Quirrell kill me and get the horcrux out. I went to a place, I'm not sure what it was, but it looked like the park we used to go to on my birthday. Anyway, my mum and dad were there." Both Remus and Sirius flinched. "Yeah, I know, but they explained some stuff to me. They told me to tell you guys they said hi, and not to show Peter any mercy." Both men grinned and nodded. "Well, I came back to life but faked being dead. Quirrell took me to Dumbledore, and was bragging. Dumbledore knew I wasn't dead, and he told me to get up.

"Then Quirrell and I dueled, and somehow my Expelliarmus overpowered Quirrell's Avada Kedavra. Dumbledore muttered something about the power of love and the Prophet said something about it too, but he always says stuff like that, and he was the one who talked to the Prophet. You would have to ask him."

Sirius and Remus nodded, processing his explanation. About five seconds they looked at him. Sirius spoke. "Man."

Remus nodded. "Indeed."

Harry had no idea what they were on about. Sirius grinned. "But hey, it would be a waste to not drink the firewhiskey I brought to celebrate. He pulled out a tiny bottle from his pocket and enlarged it again. Remus' face was enough to make anyone laugh, but both him and Harry accepted a glass from Sirius. Remus muttered something about it being illegal for Harry to drink underage, but both others ignored it.

And so it was two hours later when a slightly drunk Harry helped an extremely drunk Sirius and a passed out Remus through the floo, before going to bed himself. They had agreed that they had no need to visit anymore, what with exams over, Voldemort gone, and only one more Monday anyway.

When Harry stepped off the train from Hogwarts, he walked with Ron and Hermione over to the Weasleys. He walked up to Mrs Weasley first.

"Thanks for the fudge and jumper, Mrs Weasley," he said.

Mrs Weasley smiled. "It was my pleasure."

Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw the small girl who could only be Ginny, Ron's sister, blushing down to her neck. He turned to her. "And you must be Ginny. I've heard about the only girl in the family. Is it true that you teleported Ron's teddy bear onto the roof?"  
Ginny's blush got even darker, if that was possible, but she shakily nodded, a smirk gracing her lips.

Harry smirked. "Nice one."  
"Ah, Harry, ever the lady's man."

Harry spun around. "Sirius!"

Sirius grinned. "Did you think I was gonna make you wait here? Ah, the legend herself, Molly Prewett! I haven't seen you since school!"  
Molly laughed. "You mean when you and James Potter snuck ink into my morning coffee? And it's Weasley now. I married Arthur."

Sirius tried and failed to suppress a laugh. "Ah, old times. The same Arthur that you tried to woo for three years before he asked you out, and then you were so excited you poked him in the eye with a quill?"

Molly nodded, and at that moment Fred, George, and Percy walked up to them. Molly turned back. "Ready to go?  
They all nodded, so Molly turned around and gestured for them to move.

Ginny looked at Harry one last time, and he smiled at her. She gave a small smile back, still blushing.

Ron grinned at Harry. "See you next term. You'll write?"

Harry grinned back. "Of course. See ya."

Ron turned around and caught up with the Weasleys.

Sirius turned to Harry. "I'm tired. Wanna apparate?"

Harry frowned but nodded. He hated apparating. "Sure."

Harry grabbed Sirius' arm and felt the normal uncomfortable sensation of himself turning in on himself, and then they were at home.

Sirius smiled at him and went into the kitchen, leaving Harry to bring his trunk upstairs.

They met in the living room five minutes later, Sirius having read the paper and Harry having thrown his trunk on the floor and put the owl whom he had decided to christen Hedwig, from a random name he had found in a school book when he got it in Diagon Alley, on his nightstand, unlocking the cage and opening his window. Just as they nodded their heads in greeting Remus stepped through the fireplace. Sirius and Remus embraced and Remus turned to Harry. "How was your first year at school?"

Harry groaned. "I just got out of it, can I answer that tomorrow?"

Remus and Sirius both laughed and nodded.

Harry grinned. No summer with Sirius and Remus wasn't eventful.

And he would be able to spend all of the summers with them.


End file.
